Thursday, 20 March 2014

I have recently suffered a great
loss as my beloved trusty Xbox 360 games console died. Now you might think that
at 42 I am too old to play video games but the stats would disagree. Today games
players cannot be defined by a particular age, sex or social group.

The Internet Advertising Bureau has
estimated that there are 33 million regular gamers in the UK
alone and worldwide that equates to more that 1.2 billion. That’s a lot of
people spending a lot of money. In fact a recent report from PWC estimates that
by 2017 the worldwide market will be worth $89.7 billion up from $63.4 billion
in 2012.

That vast audience has not escaped
the attention of major brands. The last few years has seen a rise in brands
trying to use “gamification” to various success. Some have even created games as
a brand marketing exercise, most notably the successful Barclays waterslide app
for the iPad. Other brands have embraced placing ads in actual games and not who
you would expect.

It’s not the “yoof” brands that are
pushing the boundaries of this type of advertising. Insurer Swiftcover, part of
AXA Insurance, has placed ads in games including Pro Evolution Soccer, Guitar
Hero and Tiger Woods PGA tour. They have now taken this learning to another
level creating mini games inside Facebook apps.

Another long standing in-game
advertiser is GCHQ. The spy agency has for over 7 years used in-game advertising
for its recruitment ads. They now use streaming video banners on the Xbox Live
online gaming platform to try to recruit new spooks. The ads change as the
player gets deeper and further into a game and so gives a guide to the spy
chiefs to the skills and suitability of a player.

For every successful campaign though
there have been many examples of failure. To make it work, the lessons from
those that have benefited is that the experience cannot take away from the game
and whatever it is; it must be as creative as the game they are trying to enjoy.

Many of you reading this will have
enjoyed the last few weeks watching people throw themselves off mountains on
sticks or around slopes of sheet ice on tea trays. You may have even religiously
tuned into watch people clean the ice in front of a casserole dish. I will admit
that the recent winter games passed me by, apart from the furore around
Russia’s anti-gay laws.

Sponsorship of any Olympic event is
big money and comes with heavy policing. It is a high cost, high stakes
business, undertaken by only the biggest global brands with the deepest pockets.
They often have the most to loose and so the delicate issue of equality is a
headache those brands do not need.

In response to the media and social
backlash, IOC sponsors like Visa, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Coca Cola and
McDonalds released nice statements about the inclusiveness of the games without
directly condemning the Russian stance.

Other brands that had no link to the
games however went to town. We had Google’s logo changing on the opening day to
include images of the games with the rainbow flag. Channel 4’s “GayMountain” ad and Chevrolet’s first same
sex couple ad were other examples of brands wanting to demonstrate their own
values.

You have to feel sorry for the
sponsor brands as they sponsor the games, not the host nation’s political or
social beliefs. But that does not stop the pressure. Closer to home, we have
seen examples of brands prepared to take a strong stand over things that they
truly believe in. Zoopla’s dropping its sponsorship of West
Brom over the Anelka quenelle issue for example. To me that
demonstrates a business that truly stands by its values and fair play to them.

There are no winners or losers here.
The lesson may be simply that all brands need to be satisfied that they are
prepared to stand by their own values. Especially if their activities in some
way mean they could be accused of being compromised. Or at least make sure you
have a plan of how to approach any backlash. Planning will prevent pain in the
long run.

I have been working in marketing
long enough to remember the first time I got a bulk email drop in my in-box with
my actual name on it rather than “Dear customer”. Over the years personalisation
in marketing has become something that is deemed standard. In fact, if you
receive any form of marketing communication that is not highly personalised they
are the ones that are binned electronically or physically first.

Product personalisation is the next
evolution of this trend. Coca Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign is the best known
example of this. It was actually dreamed up by Coca Cola’s Australian marketing
team in 2011 thinking about ways to re-connect with its customers. Although they
couldn’t personalise each individual Coke bottle, they realised they could
replace the Coke logo on it with a range of common Christian names. This drove a
4% sales uplift and the campaign has been rolling out worldwide ever since with
the labels printed with the 150 most popular Christian names in each territory.
It was launched in the UK this summer to great success both
in sales and brand engagement.

Another great example of a brand
being creative with personalisation comes from the household favourite Heinz. In
America they have a website
myheinz.com where anyone in the US (they don’t do this
internationally unfortunately) can order personalised bottles of tomato ketchup
or mustard with your own words and even photos, delivered to your door.

The UK
division took this concept and created a social campaign where Facebook fans
could send personalised “Get Well Soon” cans of Heinz Chicken or Tomato soup in
a gift box for the princely sum of just £1.99. In the first phase of launch they
sent out 4,000 cans and have since made it a regular winter social media
promotion.

Consumers love personalisation,
anything from having your name written on your Starbucks coffee cup to bigger
concepts like the Heinz or Coke campaigns. Although you think it might be
impossible for your own company, it might just take some creative thought to
come up with an idea that will really help you engage with your customers.

About Me

My name is Tim Youngman, I am director of marketing for a regional newspaper group in the UK.
This blog contains the columns I write on media, marketing and technology for the Eastern Daily Press newspaper in the UK www.edp24.co.uk England's largest selling regional morning newspaper.
You can find our more about me here:
www.linkedin.com/in/timyoungman
and follow me on twitter @timyoungman